Trump Shares Drop After SEC Filing Raises Sale Speculation

NEW YORK, New York — Shares of Donald Trump‘s social media company, Trump Media and Technology Group, dipped in morning trading Wednesday, a day after the company filed paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission that could allow the president’s trust to sell over $2 billion in shares.

The filing, submitted on Tuesday, registers nearly 115 million shares worth approximately $2.3 billion, although it does not guarantee any actual sales. The shares are currently held in the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, controlled by Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr. A potential sell-off by Trump, the company’s largest individual shareholder, could raise concerns among investors, which may further affect the stock’s price. By midday Wednesday, the company’s shares were down approximately 5%.

In response to speculation surrounding the filing, Trump Media issued a statement clarifying its position. “Legacy media outlets are spreading a fake story suggesting that a TMTG filing today is paving the way for the Trump trust to sell its shares in TMTG. To be clear, these shares were already registered last June on an S-1 form, and today TMTG submitted a routine filing that re-registers them on an S-3 form in order to keep the Company’s filings effective. In fact, there currently is no open window for any affiliate to sell shares,” the company clarified.

Trump himself has previously asserted that he intends to retain his stake in the company. “I don’t want to sell my shares. I don’t need money,” he told reporters in September.

Finance experts have noted that the SEC filing serves to alert investors about the potential for millions of shares to enter the market. Jay Ritter, a finance professor at the University of Florida, remarked, “In this offering it says the Trump trust could sell shares — it doesn’t necessarily mean that they will. It signals to the market that they could.”

Seth Goldstein, an analyst at research firm Morningstar, highlighted the uncertain nature of the share sale, stating, “This leaves it up in the air if and when a share sale will happen.”

While some insiders have managed to sell shares at a profit, there are concerns that a significant sell-off by figures like Trump could severely impact the stock’s value. Ritter pointed out that Trump’s media company has struggled to develop a successful operating model yet has been effective in capitalizing on share sales.

The SEC filing cautioned that “the sale of the Resale Securities being offered pursuant to this prospectus, or the perception that these sales could occur, could result in a significant decline in the public trading price of our Common Stock.”

The stock has faced significant volatility, having shed about 44% of its value since the beginning of the year. Following the filing, Trump Media’s stock initially dropped 9% before recovering some ground.